What's On: Sheldon and Amy are Genetic Marvels on a ‘Big Bang’ Repeat, and ’30 for 30’ Remembers a Soccer Legend

The Big Bang Theory (8/7c, CBS): In a prescient repeat from November, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) gets so excited about an experiment combining his genes with those of Amy (Mayim Bialik) that he becomes convinced they should procreate. Given where last season ended, that’s sounding increasingly more likely.

George Best: All By Himself (8/7c, ESPN): As a prelude to the Manchester United vs. Manchester City International Champions Cup game (10/9c), 30 for 30 presents a colorful biographical portrait of George Best, described by director Daniel Gordon as “Britain’s first pop star soccer player.” A larger than life Irish lad who took Great Britain by storm as a teenager, helping win the 1968 European Cup for Manchester United, the charismatic Best was also bedeviled by addiction and depression, and All By Myself remembers him at his best and worst.

Public Enemy (streaming on Sundance Now): Your best bet in the digital universe is a 10-episode Belgian import, a suspenseful mystery about a convinced child murderer who seeks refuge with monks in a village after being released from prison. And then a child disappears, casting suspicion on the ex-con. Leading the investigation: a female detective who lost her own sister years before. Maybe not the happiest diversion, but it won the Buyers’ Choice Award at MIPTV’s first international drama competition.

Inside Thursday TV: The melodrama continues on CMT’s Nashville (9/8c), as Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) goes to great lengths to keep Maddie (Lennon Stella) from learning the truth, and you know how well that usually goes. … The action in The CW’s escapist romp Hooten & the Lady (9/8c) moves to Rome, as the adventurers break into the Sistine Chapel and fight an alligator—presumably in separate scenes—in their quest for an ancient book. Lady Alex’s (Ophelia Lovibond) mother, Lady Lindo (Jane Seymour), does not approve. … Who doesn’t love a good airborne outbreak storyline? NBC’s The Night Shift (10/9c) presents Drew (Brendan Fehr) with a crisis at 35,000 feet when his flight home with mom (Girls’ Becky Ann Baker) and Rick (Luke MacFarlane) is interrupted as the plane’s passengers sicken one by one. Shameless crossover plug alert: American Ninja Warrior’s Akbar Gbajabjamila guests as himself, hosting an obstacle course fundraiser for most of the rest of the cast on the ground.